Month: October 2004

UNITED NATIONS – The deaths of two humanitarian workers in a landmine explosion in northern Darfur early this week and the painfully slow response of the world community to the ongoing violence and atrocities have worsened the spreading crisis in Sudan, according to senior UN officials and humanitarian organizations. For months, human rights groups and … Continue reading “Relief Agencies Jolted by Deaths in Sudan”

John Kerry has promised that – as president – his highest priority will be preventing nuke proliferation. In stark contrast to Bush’s previous actions and future intentions, Kerry intends to work closely with – and through – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to achieve that end. Everyone now knows that the IAEA was right … Continue reading “Another Dubious Slam Dunk”

James Bovard, the great libertarian champion of our freedom and civil liberties, recently shared with readers his mail from Bush supporters. For starters, here are some of the salutations: "communist bastard," "a**hole," "a piece of trash, scum of the earth." It goes downhill from there. Bush’s supporters demand lockstep consensus that Bush is right. They … Continue reading “The Brownshirting of America”

BANGKOK – The start of Ramadan this Friday, when pious Muslims seek to cleanse their souls and come together in the name of peace, sees mosques in southern Thailand taking center stage in a region racked by recent violence and bloody killings. The holiest month in the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is a haram time when … Continue reading “Ramadan in Thailand: Hope, Fear and Brutality”

Thursday’s recommendation by the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division that 28 soldiers be charged in connection with the beating deaths of two prisoners held at a detention facility in Afghanistan in December 2002 has spurred new calls for an entirely independent investigation of abuses of detainees by U.S. forces in "war on terrorism." The announcement, … Continue reading “Afghan Deaths Spur Calls for Independent Investigation”

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, the head of the Iraqi secret police, has charged 27 employees in the Iranian embassy in Baghdad with espionage and sabotage. He blames them for the assassination of over a dozen members of the Iraqi secret police in the past month. He claims to have seized from “safehouses” Persian documents … Continue reading “Neo-Ba’athists vs. the Shi’ites”

While the successful penetration by suicide bombers, who killed ten people, including four U.S. nationals, of the carefully guarded “Green Zone” in downtown Baghdad grabbed headlines here this week, another measure of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq came from a more surprising source. In an article published Thursday in the online edition of the … Continue reading “Plight of Iraqi Christians Provokes Calls for Special Protection”

A week after the FBI disrupted about twenty Web sites operated by local chapters of the Indymedia network, there is still no clear explanation as to why agents seized some of the radical news organizations’ servers. Yesterday, agents returned both of the confiscated computer hard drives used to house the affected sites to Rackspace, the … Continue reading “Indymedia Seizures Still in Question”

The year is 2030 and President Pierce Bush addresses the nation: “My fellow countrymen, in the past, enemies of America required massed armies, and great navies, powerful air forces to put our nation, our people, our friends and allies at risk. What has changed in the first four decades of the 21st century is that, … Continue reading “Sci-Fi Superwarriors”

It would have been a surprise if it happened, of course. But it is still somewhat disappointing that the presidential debate included no discussion of the possibility of a relatively extensive rethinking of American foreign policy. The policy we have in place – insofar as it is something other than a long-term commitment to world … Continue reading “A Missed Opportunity”